Surgery is happening...reality is hitting hard

Hi,

I had a double and also had direct implants. Personally for me, I think all my nervousness and adrenaline got me through. I wasn't given any pain meds except for Ketolorac(heavy duty Tylenol)..and that worked fine. Me the pain was just stiffness with moving my arms. I was walking that night around the floor. I walked out hospital next day. I rested, but I also kept moving when I was up. I did not have a recliiner, but I propped myself up with pillows and one of my kids, I guess you would call it a gaming pillow too. I had the drains for a 6days,,couldnt wait for that to be out. I work in the school system and I had been dx and surgery during late July and surgery early Aug. 3 weeks later we started back, and I was given the ok if I felt up to it.

I would say you won't know unfortunately until you have it done. You may be surprised that you handle it very well. The scars aren't pretty but neither are my stretch marks ,,,battle scars from pregnancy and now BC. They have some great stuff for improving the scars. I'm 6mths out and they are purplish but they are fading. I hate the node scars the worst. Just can't hide them if you wear a tank top, but I have to look at it that I'm still here.

They will give you a list of what meds and otc that you have to stop taking before surgery, but I would ask your surgeon if something to relax you, like Ativan, the night before would help you to at least get some sleep.

I wish you an uneventful surgery and a hopefully not so bad recovery.

My dr did a couple things that helped me a lot. The first was recommending a guided imagery tape. I downloaded one from the library and it help me so much. I listened to it over and over. Got me through the couple weeks of waitingwithout needing Ativan.

The second was prescribing a klonopin the morning of surgery. I was able to relax and go with the flow. No fear.

Since this is prophylactic I suspect they don't need to remove lymph nodes so your arm movements won't be impacted, but if they are just keep everything at counter height for a while.

I used a recliner all day but slept propped on pillows at night. As soon as my drains were out I was able to sleep on my side and a pillow propped along my ribs made it very comfy.

I could do most everything by 4 weeks but the fatigue hung on for quite a while. I took lots of naps, which is not like me at all.

I had incisions that look like an anchor and it really didn't look too bad when they took the bandages off. I think they use a lot of glue and not many stitches so it wasn't really ugly. About a year after surgery I had 3D nipple tattoos (no other reconstruction) and I'm pretty happy with how I look. (Well, OK, I hate the 2 lumps of tissue my lousy PS left behind but I've learned to accept them and move on because I don't want any more surgery)

You sound like you've got a good handle on planning. I think that really helps.